


Wouldn't Change a Thing

by TDKeh16



Series: Tumblr Fics and Prompts [30]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Adopted Children, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Future Fic, M/M, Mon Petit Chou universe compliant, One Shot, POV Outsider, So Married, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8243182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TDKeh16/pseuds/TDKeh16
Summary: Bitty has an unexpected reunion with someone from his past -- his first Winter Screw date.





	

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: "I wouldn't change a thing... except when you vomited on my shoes."
> 
> (Bitty and Jack are about 28 and 33 here)

"Hey... Do I know you from somewhere?"

Bitty was used to people recognizing him from "somewhere" a lot nowadays. He looked up from his phone to find a tall man with dark brown hair standing beside his table. "Oh?" He actually _did_ look familiar. "Um, maybe?"

"You're a hockey player, right?" The man asked.

Bitty let out a burst of laughter. Nobody had called him a hockey player in years. He had enough trouble convincing people he was even _on_ the team back in college, and _**now**_ someone was recognizing him as a hockey player? "Sorry. Yeah, it's been a few years, but..."

"You played for Samwell, right? Um, Aaron? Button? Bittens?"

"Bittle. Eric Bittle," he said with a smile, and waited for the spark of recognition that usually followed his name nowadays. He was spared the usual 'I've seen you on TV!' reaction this time around.

"Right! Sorry, I knew it was something like that. I guess it's been about 10 years or so now? I forgot."

"Ten years since...?" Bitty asked. "I'm sorry too, you look familiar, but I _cannot_ for the life of me place you. You went to Samwell? Did we share a class?"

"No, we uh-- oh god. It's so embarassing, you probably blocked me out," the man stumbled through his reply. "I was a year or two ahead of you. We, uh, we got set up for a date once? For Winter Screw?" He whispered the last word, a little embarassed to be overheard saying 'screw' in a busy cafe.

"Oh? _**Oh!**_ " Bitty gasped as the memory flooded back to him. " _My shoes!_ " He laughed and nudged the chair across from him away from the table. "Sit!"

The man blinked in disbelief. "Wha-- really? Are you sure?"

"Please. I have a few minutes, we should catch up!" Bitty smiled. "What was your name again? Sorry, it has been a while, hasn't it?"

"Zach. Zach Anders," he said as he sat down. Bitty took a sip from his coffee cup and he noticed the gold band on his finger. "You're married now? Husband or wife?"

"Husband. Five years now."

"Do you still play hockey?"

"Only for fun. A bunch of the boys try to get together once a year and we all play each other. I've been thinking of joining a rec league or something, but between Jack-- that's my husband, Jack-- between _Jack's_ hectic schedule, and _my_ hectic schedule, and two kids under the age of five, there's just no time right now. Maybe in a few years when the kids are in school."

"You're a dad? Congrats." Zach smiled. "How old? Mine's three." He pulled out his phone to show a picture of his son to Bitty.

Bitty did the same, proudly showing off the lock screen picture of a little girl and boy hugging and smiling at the camera. "Our daughter's almost five and our son is two and a half. My husband, Jack, took this picture. Isn't it wonderful?"

"It is." Zach chuckled. "You don't have to keep doing that, you know."

"Doing what?"

"I'm not-- I didn't come over to hit on you or anything. You don't have to purposely mention your husband to let me down easy."

"Oh! I wasn't--"

Zach smiled at him. "To be honest, I came over to apologize. I made an ass myself that night. I've always regretted it, but I was too embarrassed to approach you again on campus to apologize properly. If I remember correctly, it was your first _real_ date, and I'm really sorry if I spoiled that night for you."

"It's okay. I wouldn't change a thing," Bitty reached across the table and gave his arm a reassuring pat.

"Really?"

" _Well_ ," Bitty laughed again. "... _Except_ when you vomitted on my shoes."

Zach sighed softly with relief and shook his head as he laughed too. "I was an idiot back then. I can't believe I was such a gross drunk. I know college is supposed to be where you do stupid things like that, but I can't believe I did that. I am so so sorry," he apologized again. "My friends said they had to walk me home and it wasn't even midnight. I was an awful date. Are you sure you wouldn't change anything else? I'd go back and change everything if I could."

Bitty shook his head with a content smile and took another sip of his coffee. "Nope. It ended perfectly."

"Did you go home with someone else?" Zach teased playfully.

"Well, yes and no -- he walked me home. And offered me his coat. And was a perfect gentleman. More importantly -- we got to have a _real_ conversation on the walk home during a time that I was almost positive he hated my guts. Maybe the first time we had ever talked for that long. And yet here we are, ten years later..." Bitty wiggled his ring finger.

"You mean-- _your husband?!_ You met your **_husband_** that night?" Zach's jaw dropped.

"I already _knew_ him, of course, from the team -- but we weren't exactly friends back then. Like I said, I was sure he hated me."

"He was on the hockey team too?"

"He wasn't just _on_ the team, he was-- Jack!" An impossibly large smile spread across Bitty's face and he waved at the door.

Zach turned to find none other than Jack Zimmermann approaching the table holding a little girl's hand and a toddler in his other arm. "Hey Bits," he said with a warm smile.

The little girl broke away from Jack's hand and ran the final two feet to Bitty, scrambling up into his lap whether he was ready for it or not. "Daddy! I missed you!"

"Hey, peanut. I missed you too," Bitty said as he hugged her close on his lap and kissed the top of her head. The tie on one of her pigtails had loosened and he fixed it while smiling up at Jack. "I missed my boys, too."

"I should hope so," Jack said with a grin as he swooped their son in for his own forehead kiss. The little boy squealed with delight and kicked his feet at the air. He shifted the boy in his arm so that he could lean in for a chaste kiss on Bitty's lips. Jack pulled a nearby chair over to the table and sat down, his eyes never leaving his husband's smiling face. "Were you waiting long?"

"Jack, sweetheart, you should at least say hello, or let me introduce you," Bitty told him with a pointed look over at Zach.

"Oh!" Jack let out a small gasp when he finally noticed the other man at the table. "Are you-- I thought the interview was over. I'm sorry, should--"

"Papa said we can get ice cream! Can we get ice cream?" Their daughter suddenly piped up. She squirmed in her daddy's lap. "Alex wants ice cream too. He told me."

"Shh, pumpkin. Papa and I are talking with our friend." Bitty gave her a couple bounces on his knee. "The interview is over," he began explaining to Jack, "this is Zach. He went to Samwell. He was my date to the winter dance once."

"The rugby guy?" Jack asked as he turned to Zach and extended his hand to shake with the stranger. "Nice to met you."

"Not rugby, I was on the soccer team. Um, nice to meet you too."

"From my _**first**_ year at Samwell," Bitty prompted.

Jack looked from his husband and back to Zach. "The _shoe_ guy?"

"Yeah," Zach admitted sheepishly. "I recognized Eric just now and that I should jump at the chance to apologize. I owed him that."

"And a new pair of shoes," Jack pointed out with a serious look on his face. Zach's eyes went wide.

"Oh, stop!" Bitty gave Jack's arm a playful tap. "He's not serious, Zach. My husband has a dry sense of humor. Jack, honey, tell him you're joking." He laughed.

"Well, I guess I do owe you a new--"

"Oh, don't you dare," Bitty insisted. "Our closet is full enough as it is. I told you already, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Hm?" Jack looked at him.

"You walked me home that night. Remember?"

Jack thought back for a moment, then chuckled. "Oh yeah. I guess I did."

"It was wonderful." Bitty exchanged adoring smiles with his husband.

Between Jack and Bitty off in their own world, their daughter's impatient squirms, and the way their son peeked at Zach shyly before burying his face in his papa's chest, Zach took his cue to leave. "I should be on my way, soon."

"Oh, us too. I believe _someone_ was promised an ice cream cone."

"Alex wants one too!" She hopped off his lap and bounced excitedly.

"I haven't forgotten about him, sweetheart. Don't worry." Bitty laughed as he stood. Jack followed suit, and Zach stood as well. Bitty smiled down at his daughter when she grabbed his hand. "Did you have fun at your lesson?"

"Yeah!"

"She skated backwards today," Jack explained proudly. "I took a video for you."

"Aww, of course you did, baby." Bitty gave him a peck on his lips. "Thank you. I can't wait to see it." He gave the hand his daughter was holding a small jiggle. "Daddy's really sorry he couldn't make it today, honey. I promise I'll be there next week."

"It's okay, daddy." She let go of his hand and hugged around his leg and Bitty laughed.

He stroked her hair lovingly. "My sweet girl. Want a piggyback ride to the ice cream shop?"

"Yeah!!!" She clamoured onto his back when he stooped down, a tangle of small limbs in a ruffled skirt and a miniature Falconers jersey.

Bitty smiled at Zach as he stood. "It was really nice seeing you again, Zach."

"You too." Zach smiled back at Bitty and his beautiful family as they prepared to part ways on the sidewalk outside the cafe.

"Say goodbye to Daddy's friend," Jack urged their children. The little boy stared at Zach and hid his face in Jack's shoulder again. "He's really shy," Jack explained, "but Maëlle--"

"Bye!!!" Their daughter said happily from her perch on Bitty's shoulders.

"--Maëlle is her _daddy's_ daughter." Jack finished with a grin.

"Oh, hush." Bitty laughed.

"You have a beautiful family," Zach told them.

"Thank you."

"And thank you," Jack repeated as he shook Zach's hand one more time before turning to Bitty. "I guess that night was one of the first times we had a good talk, eh Bits?"

"First of many, sweetheart."

Jack smiled. "Yeah."

"Goodbye, Zach."

"See you around, man."

"Bye," Zach said with a smiled and went on his way as the Zimmermann-Bittle clan headed down the street to a nearby ice cream shop. He chuckled to himself, still in disbelief about the past 20 minutes. Zach vaguely remembered the news breaking when Jack came out in the NHL, but he had not realized that the boyfriend the stories mentioned was Bitty. He assumed the YouTube star the articles referred to was someone Jack had met since graduating, at some celebrity party or something. Bitty must've been doing pretty well on YouTube to warrant an interview. Good for him. Zach made a mental note to try to find his channel later to find out what he posted about.

He stopped at the corner while he waited for the little "don't walk" sign to change and a bus drove past him. Zach's jaw dropped as he was faced with a giant image of Eric Bittle, the man he had been speaking to not five minutes earlier, plastered along the side of the bus. It was an ad for a reality cooking show that starred Bitty as the celebrity chef and mentor.

A middle aged woman also waiting to cross the street could not help but notice the way Zach's wide eyes followed the ad. "Good show, huh? I think everybody I know watches it. It's so refreshing to see one of those cooking competitions where the poor contestants aren't constantly being yelled at."

Zach chuckled. "Yeah, Eric Bittle isn't the type to make anyone feel bad about their mistakes. Even when they deserve it."

"You know, I heard he lives here in Providence! My niece said she saw him a few months ago. Swears it was him!"

"Imagine that," Zach said with another amused chuckle.

"He always shares the recipes at the end of the show and provides all these suggested substitutes for people with limited diets. My favourites are the lean protein dishes, I guess his husband is a bit of a health nut? He's always going on about 'my husband loves this' and 'I made this once and my husband didn't stop kissing me for a week!' He's sure head-over-heels for that husband of his." She laughed. "It's so sweet."

The light changed and Zach waited until he had crossed the street to pull out his phone. He texted his husband with a smile on his face.

Zach: Heading home now.  
Zach: Just had the weirdest thing happen. Will explain when I see you.  
Zach: Can you set the DVR for 8pm Thursday on channel 5?  
Hubby: Sure babe. Good weird or bad weird?  
Zach: Good weird.  
Hubby: hahaha can't wait.

Zach arrived home and was greeted by his husband and their son. "So? I'm dying to hear about your day-- even more than usual." His husband laughed.

"Remember that story about me throwing up on my date's shoes in college? _Well_..."

**Author's Note:**

> Jack and Bitty are still hopelessly in love, even after 8 years together. Jack loves being out and not having to worry about who might see him give his now-husband a little kiss, and Bitty loves any excuse to gush about 'my husband Jack'. They're both in a bit of disbelief still that they got so lucky as to find each other.


End file.
